Rico Rodriguez
Rico Rodriguez is the main character and playable protagonist in the Just Cause game series. Info summary Rico was 18 years old when he was scouted by Tom Sheldon in 1986. This led him into the mysterious organization within the CIA, simply named "The Agency". He's sometimes nicknamed "Scorpio" and sometimes "Scorpion". History He was born on January 25 1968. Little is known about Rico's early life, information like relatives, is very highly classified. Rico was approached by the CIA, specifically Tom Sheldon, during the Invasion of Panama in 1986, when Rico was 18 years old. Sheldon took Rico under his wing and became his commanding officer and friend, turning him from a rookie into the top agent he is today. Rico's time in The Agency and in the CIA Rico underwent CIA training and due to his expertise with weapons, vehicles and other gadgets, he soon advanced into The Agency. This was a unit of the CIA which specialized in "regime-change" operations, which involves overthrowing dictatorships that are being ruled unfairly or are no longer US friendly. During his time with The Agency, Rico trained under Sheldon, who taught Rico the skills and techniques he would need to carry out such dangerous operations, and became a good friend and ally. Rico also met Maria Kane, another recruit within The Agency. Rico and Maria were intimate some time before the events of the firt game, something Sheldon is still oblivious to. Nonetheless, the three became close partners and often dispatched as a team: Sheldon being the commander, in charge of contact with Agency HQ and receiving intel, Maria deals with weapon, vehicle and equipment procurement and Rico as the field operative, carrying out all the actual work. San Esperito - 2005 Roughly around 2005, Rico made a name for himself when he was called to the tropical island of San Esperito, along with Sheldon and Maria, who were already there investigating an unknown conspiracy. This would turn out to be his largest, most difficult and dangerous operation to date. His task was to infiltrate and assist the two factions on the island and cripple dictator Salvador Mendoza, who was believed to be in control of WMDs and finally put an end to his rule. After landing on the island nation, he breaks a certain faction leader out of prison to aid him in his revolution; José Caramicas. Transporting him to safety earned him the friendship of his faction (Guerrillas) and the affections of his grateful sister Esperanza Caramicas. He continued to help the faction and make his way across the nation, meeting new allies and making enemies. ‎ With his allies, Rico proceeded and carried out numerous life-risking tasks that included the sabotaging of all Mendoza's businesses and the killing of his corrupt officials. Eventually, Sheldon, Rico and Maria tracked Mendoza down, who had retreated to his own personal island. Rico carried out a full-blown assault upon the island, and fought his way through Mendoza's personal army. Mendoza fled in a jet with Rico in hot pursuit. After Rico jumped aboard Mendoza's flight, the president took a last ditch chance to escape and leaped from the plane. Rico followed, skydiving above him. Catching up with him in free-fall, Rico placed a time-bomb on Mendoza's back, blowing the president into pieces and ultimately ending Mendoza's evil reign over San Esperito. After the incident, Rico retired from the Agency and disappeared in Mexico. Panau - 2009 Tom Sheldon suspiciously goes missing with millions of dollars in Agency cash, He is suspected of going rogue. The Agency wants him found and killed. Maria Kane personally tracks down Rico, believing him to to be the only person capable of such a mission. She informs Rico about Sheldon's situation, who has disappeared in the nation of Panau. Rico reluctantly returns and accepts the mission when he hears about Sheldon. He and Kane are flown to Panau, in South-East Asia, whose new dictator has suddenly cut all ties to the US. Rico is informed that Sheldon may have gone rogue. Rico grudgingly accepts the fact that he may have to kill his friend and mentor, who taught him everything he knows. Immediately thrown into combat, Rico assaults a military base and retrieves some memory cards with various pieces of intel about the Panau operation on them. Later, Kane and Rico go to visit Karl Blaine, a Swedish Agency asset who has abandoned his mission in favour of gambling and drinking, who is believed to have information on Sheldon. But, after arriving at his house, they are greeted by his apparent girlfriend Jade Tan. Jade tells Rico that Blaine is holed up in the Panau Falls Casino and needs help. Rico and Jade ride to the casino, taking a shine to one-another in the process. Rico then forcefully extracts Blaine from the casino and is repaid with a Black Market contact and the HQ locations of three Panau Factions, who in return for Rico's services will dig up information regarding the whereabouts of Sheldon. Rico works for the "Reapers", led by Bolo Santosi, who is driven by her want for revolution; the "Roaches", led by Razak "The Razor" Razman, a very powerful drug distributor on Panau, though due to his wealth still remains a prominent public figure; and the "Ular Boys", led by Sri Irawan, who is driven simply by his lust for power and independence. All factions disapprove of dictator Pandak "Baby" Panay, who they feel is corrupting their nation. Sure enough, he finds Sheldon and confronts him. Learning about Baby Panay, he realizes that Sheldon had not gone rogue as was believed. Instead, he was on to Panay, whom is believed to have ulterior motives for cutting ties with the US. Rico is given the job of eliminating Panau's corrupt leader to return the country to US friendly status. Sheldon tells Rico to keep working for the factions and causing chaos to flush Panay from his hiding spot and take him down, before departing to make amends with the Agency. As Rico continues to work for the factions, he is abruptly informed that Karl Blaine is missing and isn't to be trusted (he had earlier installed a bug on Rico's PDA). Panay has also captured Jade, who is also revealed as a government agent and was caught snooping around. Rico races to rescue Jade before she is tortured by Panay, and he destroys the base where she is held. From below a frozen lake, a nuclear submarine (U1) surfaces and a convoy make their escape with Jade thrown into a truck. However, Rico foils the plan and hijacks the truck carrying Jade. Both are then rescued by Kane and Sheldon via helicopter. The four of them take a break on Sheldon's barge boat where Jade expresses her gratitude towards Rico for saving her. She shares the intel she had gathered which reveals that there are three superpower representatives on Panau who also want to drive out Baby Panay. Knowing of the faction's want to remove Panay from presidency, each of the representatives have allied themselves with a certain faction, providing them with financial backing. Alexander Mirkov, a Russian secret service agent is aiding the Roaches; Zhang Sun, a Chinese leader who is backing the Reapers with his promise of revolution and a disgraced Japanese general named Masayo Washio, allied with the Ular Boys. Unfortunately, Jade was caught before finding out why the superpowers want Panay gone, or what their interest in Panau itself is. They all wonder what a small nation like Panau has to offer. Sheldon tells Rico he must continue doing jobs for the factions and retain their trust, in order to discover the locations of these superpower representatives. As Rico prepares to leave, Jade asks what he intends to do, to which Rico replies what he does best, cause chaos. She tells him to take care of himself, but he insists there will be other time for that, jokingly suggesting Jade give him a few tips in the future. Eventually, all three factions unknowingly put Rico in contact with the superpowers, enabling Rico and Sheldon to wipe them out. Sheldon calls Rico to the Three Kings Hotel where Mirkov, Sun and Washio are staying. Ironically, none of them know the others are there too. After confronting and defeating all three, Sheldon and Rico again wonder what Panau has that is able to attract the Chinese, Japanese, Russians. After locating Panay, Sheldon sends Rico and a faction to kill him. Arriving at his lair (Wajah Ramah Fortress), Panay queries if Rico is also on the island to steal its huge oil supply. It suddenly becomes clear that all this was for oil, the superpowers were after Panauan Oil and wanted rid of Panay in order to get to it. The interaction is cut short by Blaine, who believes Panay killed Jade. He sets off a grenade, killing himself and seemingly also Panay. Rico makes a quick exit as the self-destruct sequence activates. Getting to safety, Rico rages at Sheldon for having him risk his life so much just for oil. They are interrupted by Kane who informs them that rival powers have learned of Panay's death and their tankers are headed toward Panau to seize the oil, which will supposedly turn the nation into a field of death and destruction as they all clash over the worlds largest oil supply, with little regard for the inhabitants of the island. Rico is sent to the oil field in preparation for the confrontation of the superpowers, but on his way there, a nuclear submarine (U1) rises from the water. Rico checks it out, only to discover Panay, having survived the grenade explosion, is intent on keeping the oil supply for himself. After being overpowered, Panay flees to the front deck of the sub and reveals to Rico that the fight isn't over. Three Nuclear missiles are directed at the superpowers who have come to Panau to take the oil and one is directed at the US. Panay launches them; however his clothes are snagged on one of them and he is hauled off with it. Rico grapples onto one and quickly disarms the first three as they speed over the water. Then after a brief scuffle with Panay, Rico slams him into the exposed missile interior, from which he's unable to free himself, but instead of disarming the missile, he changes the target coordinates. Rico parachutes to safety and lands on a boat with Sheldon, Kane and Jade. The missile explodes behind him, having hit the prized oil field, much to Sheldon's dismay. Rico explains his reasons for destroying oil worth so much, to spare the innocent people in Panau from having to live in fear and poverty due to superpowers clashing over the oil, as without it, all interest in Panau is lost. As the group sail along the waters of Panau, the four raise a glass to good deeds, friends and a job well done. It remains to be seen what Rico has in store next. Note that there's no way that any nuclear bomb could do any damage to an undersea oil field and that any radiation would be safely absorbed and carried off by the sea. Appearance and Personality During the development of Just Cause, Rico is depicted as the "pretty boy" of spies and of Mulatto-Hispanic heritage, described by developers as being: "The child of one thousand comic books and action movies. He is James Bond, Mad Max, Jason Bourne, El Mariachi, Wolverine, Punisher, Rambo, Tony Montana and Han Solo all rolled into one. With a touch of Enrique Iglesias to top it all off! Rico has brown eyes and a tattoo of a scorpion on his upper left arm. He was born on 25th January 1968 and his star-sign is Aquarius. In Just Cause, Rico wears a standard issue black ops outfit complete with a thin bulletproof vest and parachute. He also wears a crucifix, which shows that he is a Christian. He talks with a strong Spanish accent. In Just Cause, Rico is portrayed as being vaguely sarcastic but confident in his own abilities and hardly ever loses his temper. He is clearly familiar with the absurdity of the tasks he is given and occasionally quips in reference to this. He is also shown to attract the attention of a few women while on his mission, which might be something new to him (see the quotes section below). According to Maria Kane, he has a habit of breaking things. He can also be seen performing a "sign of the cross" and kissing the cross he's wearing. He does this at the end of the first Just Cause trailer (at the bottom of the page). This is something that he does automatically when you leave him alone and don't touch the controls for some time. If he's holding a weapon at the time, he'll instead look at the weapon. This can sometimes also be seen right after completing a mission. In Just Cause 2, set a few years later, he's sporting a more rugged look. He's more muscular and has slicked his hair back. He instead wears a black shirt with sleeves rolled up, covered by an open-collared buttoned leather vest and also a red arm bandana. Over this he wears a tactical gun holster and fingerless gloves. He also wears a more casual pair of jeans also with gun holsters and a brown stud belt, along with black combat loafers. He still wears the crucifix and now has a more advanced Grappler fitted to his left arm. Rico's personality has darkened in Just Cause 2. He is somewhat cynical, yet retains his dark sense of humor and occasional wit, but is more serious in his tone. He is also more aggressive and unlike before, does lose his temper on occasions. Rico also speaks more in free-roam game play and has lost a little of his Spanish accent. In Just Cause 2 he doesn't have any moral issues with stealing medical supplies, money and vehicle parts from civilians. Quotes San Esperito *"Another pissant regime that has to be toppled. President has to go." - Aboard the Agency cargo plane, right after the briefing for the first mission Devil's Drop Zone. *"I can't believe I have paid for that." - Rico says this right after the mission Brothers in Arms and at random moments after completing the mission. It is believed that this is a reference to relations of a sexual nature, because of the way that the mission ended. *"You know, it didn't matter that he was the president. It's always the good guy who wins. And today, that's me." - His last words to Salvador Mendoza in the mission Taking Out The Garbage. Salvador had just made a reference to the 1997 movie "Air Force One". Panau *"Crazy damned pedestrians!" - After running over some pedestrians. *"That was fun." - After a settlement completion. *"Don't take no passengers." - After Hijacking a vehicle. *"Why go over, when you can go under?" - After flying under a bridge. *"Some day, they'll write books about all of us." - After flying under a bridge. This refers to the secret lives of spies and to the fact that some real world spies have had books written about them later. *"Try to communicate now, punks." - After destroying a Communications Station. *"Try and transport fuel now, you pipeline jerks!" - After destroying a Pipeline. *"One less pipeline, one less problem." - After destroying a Pipeline. *"Don't take it personally, it was just a design fault, that's all." - After destroying a Pipeline. *"Whoa... too close for comfort!" - After hitting the ground if the Parachute is opened too close to the ground. *"It's a tough job... but someone's gotta do it." - After completing a settlement 100%. *"Auch, that's gotta hurt the big man's ego!" - When a Pandak "Baby" Panay Statue has been destroyed. *"Talk about baby boom..." - When destroying the statues mentioned above. *"Oops!" - When tall objects, such as Communications Masts, Cranes or Industrial Chimneys are destroyed. *"Deal with it." - Deleted quote / voice from the Just Cause 2 Beta. *"Haven't lost my touch!" - When destroying an Industrial Chimney. *"Sheesh!" - When opening the parachute right when Rico hits the ground, or when a vehicle blows up near him. *"I hate Ninjas." - During the mission "Mountain Rescue". Trivia *Among many others, Rico may be a reference to Scorpion from the Mortal Kombat series as his grappling hook is similar to Scorpion's spear and chain. There is also the fact that he often goes by the alias, Scorpio. *The game Sleeping Dogs, released on August 14, 2012, has a free bonus for any gamer with a Just Cause 2 save game stored on their hard drive. The bonus is that Wei Shen (the protagonist of Sleeping Dogs) can wear Rico's outfit from Just Cause 2. This outfit allows Wei to "action hijack" cars at a greater distance. The grappling hook, while still represented on the costume skin, unfortunately, does not function and is merely cosmetic. *While running around on the rooftops of the San Esperito towns, or trying to quickly get past any of the various random objects that can be seen in villages, the player has to often use the jump function. If you jump while there's an immovable obstacle in the way, there will be a fart-like noise. See the video at the bottom of the page for a demonstration and Just Cause Bugs and glitches for more glitches. *Rico in Just Cause 2 went through a couple of facial designs during development. These can be seens in a couple of screenshots during the loading screen of the game. *According to this site and this site: **In Just Cause, Rico was originally suppose to be a tattooed guy with dreadlocks. **In the original intro of Just Cause 2, Rico was burned-out and had retired to a brothel somewhere in Mexico where he'd spent his days since Just Cause 1, drinking. Appearances/Actors *Just Cause game series. **Just Cause (First appearance). **Just Cause 2. The game manuals don't say who did the voice acting. Gallery Just cause rico gun.jpg|Promotional artwork of Rico with his signature guns, the Holdt R4 Pitbulls, in Just Cause (1). Mendoza statue 2.png|Parachuting near the Giant statue of Salvador Mendoza. San Esperito posters (guerrilla support 2).png|Standing in front of vandalized posters that show support for the Guerrillas. Revolver.jpg|Rico's Signature Gun in Just Cause 2. The White Tiger (Rico upside down).jpg|Tom Sheldon cutting Rico down from a trap in the mission The White Tiger. Videos Category:Characters Category:Content